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Algebra Difficulty 4.5 AIME Prove it Ireland

Suppose aa, bb, cc are real numbers such that a+b+c=1a + b + c = 1 and a2+b2+c2=1a^2 + b^2 + c^2 = 1.
Prove that a3+b3+c31a^3 + b^3 + c^3 \le 1.

Solution

First note that
0=(a+b+c)2(a2+b2+c2)=2(ab+bc+ca). 0 = (a + b + c)^2 - (a^2 + b^2 + c^2) = 2(ab + bc + ca).
Using a+b=1ca + b = 1 - c, we then obtain
0=ab+bc+ca=ab+c(a+b)=ab+c(1c), i.e.  ab=c(c1) 0 = ab + bc + ca = ab + c(a + b) = ab + c(1 - c), \quad \text{ i.e. } \ ab = c(c - 1)
and so abc=c2(c1)0abc = c^2(c - 1) \le 0 because a2+b2+c2=1a^2 + b^2 + c^2 = 1 implies c1c \le 1. Finally,
1=(a2+b2+c2)(a+b+c)=a3+b3+c3+ab(a+b)+bc(b+c)+ca(c+a)=a3+b3+c3+ab(1c)+bc(1a)+ca(1b)=a3+b3+c33abc+ab+bc+ca, \begin{align*} 1 &= (a^2 + b^2 + c^2)(a + b + c) \\ &= a^3 + b^3 + c^3 + ab(a + b) + bc(b + c) + ca(c + a) \\ &= a^3 + b^3 + c^3 + ab(1 - c) + bc(1 - a) + ca(1 - b) \\ &= a^3 + b^3 + c^3 - 3abc + ab + bc + ca, \end{align*}
hence a3+b3+c3=1+3abc1a^3 + b^3 + c^3 = 1 + 3abc \le 1.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.